Late Arrival, Late Posting

With our unusually cold, snowy, and long winter, spring seems later than usual.  For whatever reason, this year I was not longing for spring, but enjoying the winter--maybe I just needed a break from yard work...or maybe I just accepted that I couldn't change the weather.  I know I am looking forward to the clean slate that winters always seem to bring to the yard.

Normally, come mid-February, I'm searching for signs of spring, scanning the wooded hillsides for that red haze that comes upon the maples as they awaken from their winter slumber.  Every year, I am on the lookout for the return of the red-wing blackbirds.  Despite not being in any rush this year, by mid-March, I was scanning the roadsides where I've seen them perch past springs.  This year, however, the first one I saw was in our own backyard! :)

The pictures aren't so great, but I finally got some shots of him a day or two after I first spotted him.

These were taken March 16, 2014: